'Sivaraajh should ask own party what it has done for Indians'

MIC Youth Chief C Sivaraajh should ask his own party what it has done for Indians instead of accusing former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad of not doing enough for the community.

DAP's Sungkai assemblyperson A Sivanesan said the "born yesterday" MIC youth leader should also look at history and the larger picture before issuing remarks.

"MIC was flying high during Mahathir's time and the party was entrusted to look after the Indians.

"If the community is still stuck in a rut (after Mahathir has stepped down), is it Mahathir's fault or MIC's?" Sivanesan told Malaysiakini when contacted.

He was responding to Sivaraajh's statement yesterday urging the Indians to be wary of Mahathir's possible return as prime minister as the community was hardly rewarded with high-ranking posts and recognition during his tenure when compared to current times.

Sivaraajh cited the post-Mahathir appointments of A Thaiveegan as the Penang police chief, Subromaniam Tholasy (below) as the Customs Department director-general, Narinder Singh as the Commissioner of Prisons as well as Amar Singh as the first Punjabi director of Bukit Aman's Commercial Crimes Investigation Department as examples.

Sivanesan rubbished this comparison saying the number of "high achievers" cited by Sivaraajh did not represent the racial composition of the country.

Millionaires and billionaires

"There are about 1.6 million civil servants in the country and about seven percent Indians out of the whole population.

"How can Sivaraajh state only three or four examples and try to pass it off as the truth?" he asked, adding that the MIC youth chief should look at the issue in totality before issuing baseless comments.

Sivanesan said the alleged marginalisation of Indians in the country started well before Mahathir's time and has continued since but during Mahathir's time, the country at least saw the emergence of a few of Indian millionaires.

"We have millionaires and billionaires like T Ananda Krishnan and (Westports) boss G Gnanalingam who came up during Mahathir's time. What do we have now?

"Even if Sivaraajh's remark about the four top civil servants is to be lauded, what are they (the officers) going to do next? Can they hire more Indians for their respective departments?" asked Sivanesan.

The continuous marginalisation of the Indian community will only stop if BN is toppled and Pakatan Harapan comes to power, he stressed.